Tag: DEA

The FDA Did Send a 252 Page Recommendation to Reschedule Marijuana

Finally, I have found a copy of the FDA recommendation to the DEA to reschedule Marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III. The whole document is in Dropbox and is 252 pages long. The actual recommendation starts on page 62. The basis for the recommendation is three-fold:

  • Marijuana has less abuse potential other drugs in Schedule I and II
  • Marijuana has a currently accepted medical use in treatment in the U.S.
  • Abuse of marijuana may lead to moderate or low physical dependence or high psychological dependence

The third one sounds like a reason not to reschedule marijuana until you read the clarifying text, which indicates low likelihood of serious outcomes.

On the other hand, the FDA did request feedback from professional organizations on the level of concern that might lead to not recommending marijuana. Only the American Psychiatric Association had reservations against it (pages 27-28):

“FDA also considered position statements from professional organizations relevant to the indications discussed. The vast majority of professional organizations did not recommend the use of marijuana in their respective specialty; however, none specifically recommended against it, with the exception of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), which stated that marijuana is known to worsen certain psychiatric conditions.”

Further, in Iowa which has passed restricted legislation since 2017, there is disagreement about a new bill, House Study Bill 665, which would add more regulation to the sale of some hemp products. Hemp product growers are less than pleased with it. It would restrict minors from access to all hemp products, even those not containing THC. Mental health advocates, while supporting medical marijuana, are understandably concerned about the psychiatric risks attributed to cannabis, especially in adolescents.

There is a recently published paper written by Canadian authors who raise concerns about the emergency room evaluations of children in the context of marijuana exposures. (Crocker CE, Emsley J, Tibbo PG. Mental health adverse events with cannabis use diagnosed in the Emergency Department: what are we finding now and are our findings accurate? Front Psychiatry. 2023 May 25;14:1093081. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1093081. PMID: 37304435; PMCID: PMC10247977.):

“There are more studies on the impact of cannabis on mental health in the adolescent population since our last review. One recent study using sentinel surveillance of self-harm using the electronic Canadian Hospitals Injury Reporting and Prevention Program from 2011 to 2019 showed an increase of 15.9% per year in self harm with intentional substance-related injuries exceeding unintentional injury cases and 92.3% of the cannabis-related self-harm being in the 10–19 years of age group.”

I’m ambivalent about the FDA recommendation to reschedule marijuana. On the one hand, marijuana is probably less dangerous than alcohol. On the other hand, if it’s your child that has the bad outcome related to marijuana, you’d likely be opposed to making a change.

DEA to Reschedule Marijuana or Not?

I’ve seen an article posted in February of this year on the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) about there being a plan afoot to change marijuana from DEA Schedule I to III or remove it from the Controlled Substances Act. I couldn’t find out anything about it except in in the AVMA article.

I can’t find what the FDA, HHS, or the DEA may or may not be doing as far as taking any action on about this, if any. I think it’s interesting that the AVMA reports the HHS plan to ask the DEA to change the scheduling of marijuana was “leaked” to the news outlets. There is a link to a New York Times story about it. I guess that’s better than nothing, though some might argue the point.

The AVMA article also linked to a letter from several members of congress urging the DEA to change the scheduling of marijuana, remove it from the Controlled Substances Act or risk getting their knuckles rapped with a ruler by Senator Chuck Schumer. Huh, what’s up with that?

I looked at the HHS website and found nothing suggesting that they are going after the DEA with a fire hose to get this done. The DEA is not mentioning anything about the project on their Drug Information web page.

The only ones talking about this publicly so far are the banks, the weed growers, and the AVMA as far as I can tell. The impression I get is that something is going to happen in a matter of months about decriminalizing and rescheduling marijuana. Things usually don’t happen that quickly in government.

I thought I was finished with this post until yesterday when I read U.S. Senator Mitt Romney’s letter to the DEA urging it not to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III because it would violate something I needed to learn more about, which is an international treaty called the Single Convention.

The Single Convention was ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1967 and it’s part of an international treaty which says marijuana must remain classified as either Class I or II—until a congressman can clearly demonstrate the ability to walk heel to toe in a straight line for a distance not less than 10 yards after smoking a standard large bong of high-grade marijuana.

One thing I can gather from Senator Romney’s letter is that it verifies HHS’ did in fact recommend that the DEA reschedule marijuana.

The FDA Announcement on Kratom

Just in case you missed it, the FDA posted an announcement about Kratom in February this year. According to the FDA:

“Kratom is a tropical tree (Mitragyna speciosa) that is native to Southeast Asia. Products prepared from kratom leaves are available in the U.S. through sales on the Internet and at brick-and-mortar stores. Kratom is often used to self-treat conditions such as pain, coughing, diarrhea, anxiety and depression, opioid use disorder, and opioid withdrawal.”

The other day as we were driving home on Highway 1 through Iowa City, I saw a sign advertising Kratom on a small store. I thought that might be illegal, but when I checked the Iowa Office of Drug Control and Policy, I found out it’s currently legal in the state.

Opinions vary about risks of using Kratom. The DEA tried to place in on the Schedule I, but the American Kratom Association and other supporters apparently prevented that simply by protesting it. The pharmacist who wrote the article (link above) raised a note of irony by questioning why marijuana is still regulated as a Schedule I drug.

The legality of Kratom also varies across the country. There is a very detailed review article about it that attempts to examine the use of Kratom from both the medical practitioner and patient points of view.

Picture Credit: By Psychonaught – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8255742